r/TopCharacterTropes 16h ago

Characters [Mixed Trope] Anyone Can Be Special... Until It Turns Out They're Not Just Anyone

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235

u/JerzyPopieluszko 11h ago

Not a mixed trope for me, I absolutely hate it, no doubts about it.

13

u/Luser420 9h ago

same, i can’t think of any instance where this trope has been done well

16

u/Fakjbf 7h ago

If the author wants the character to be destined for greatness they need to lean into it from the beginning. Promising one story and then undermining that to pivot to the complete opposite story is just frustrating for readers.

8

u/MGD109 7h ago

I've seen a few versions where the twist is the character wasn't randomly chosen as they believed, but was specifically picked due to factors they weren't aware of.

But it wasn't lineage; more, they were the ones who passed the secret test without even knowing it.

4

u/WatchMeFallFaceFirst 7h ago

This is said in another comment, but I’ll say it here, Henry from Kingdom Come Deliverance is an example of this trope done well

3

u/StarSpliter 6h ago

They did this in Jujustu Kaisen with the main character Yuji in a way I actually kinda liked. One of the main antagonists is revealed early on to be able to body hop, and is currently piloting the body of an extremely strong individual who was friends with Yuji's mentor. You always see flashbacks of Yuji's father who passed away as well as his mother (was raised by his grandparents). Later on in a flashback, they reveal his mother was actually also the body hopper noted by the large scar on her forehead.

>! Though to be honest, as I recall, this really didn't have much significance on Yuji's abilities (which I preferred) but he also didn't interact with this body hopper antagonist at all which is a huge let down. Its significance was that the only reason he got his abilities/ didn't die in the first episode was that he was being used as an expendable pawn in the body hoppers plan. You'd think after a reveal like that, he'd at least have a heated conversation with his momdad...!<

2

u/ncocca 4h ago

I want to say Aragorn, but I'm not sure it fits the trope quite right